Righteous army

Infobox Korean name
hangul=의병
hanja=義兵
rr=Uibyeong
mr=Ŭibyŏng

Righteous armies, sometimes called irregular armies or militias, have emerged repeatedly in Korean history, when the national armies have been unable to defend the country. The first righteous armies emerged during the Khitan invasions of Korea and the Mongol invasions of Korea. They subsequently rose up during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598), the first and second Manchu invasions, and during the Japanese occupation and preceding events.

During the long period of Japanese invasion and occupation from 1890 to 1945, the disbanded imperial guard, and Confucian scholars, as well as farmers, formed over 60 successive righteous armies to fight for Korean freedom on the Korean peninsula. These were called the Righteous armies, who were preceded by the Donghak movement, and succeeded by various Korean independence movements in the 1920s and beyond which declared Korean independence from Japanese occupation.

Righteous armies during the Japanese invasions of Korea

The righteous armies were an irregular military that fought the Japanese army that twice invaded Korea during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598). Righteous armies were most active in the Jeolla Province in the southwestern area of Korea. Righteous armies included peasants, scholars, former government officials, and Buddhist warrior monks as well. Righteous armies were important during the war because a significant portion of the expected government organized resistance had been destroyed in Gyeongsan and Chungcheong Provinces in the south by the force of Japanese arms at the outset. The "natural" defenders had been stripped away and the residue had been called north to help protect the fleeing king. Moreover, many of the district officers had obtained their commissions not through merit, but by bribery or influence and were, essentially incompetent or cowards. This was highlighted in their performance and in the performance of their units in the early days of the conflict.

In Gyeongsang province

* Hapcheon (June 6 1592) : Kim Myeon and Jeong In-hong against Mori Terumoto
* Chogye (June 7 1592) : Son In-gap against Mori Terumoto
* Ucheokhyeon (July 10 1592) : Kim Myeon and Kim Seong-il against Kobayakawa Takakage
* Yeongcheon (July 27 1592) : Gwon Ung-su and Park Jin against Fukushima Masanori
* Uiryeong : Gwak Jae-u against Kobayakawa Takakage
* Hyeonpung : Gwak Jae-u against Hashiba Hidekatsu
* Yeongsan : Gwak Jae-u against Hashiba Hidekatsu

In Jeolla province

* Damyang (June 25 1592) : Go Gyeong-myeong and Yang Dae-park
* Naju : Kim Cheon-il
* Gwangju : Kim Deok-nyeong

In Chungcheong province

* Geumsan (July 9 1592) : Go Gyeong-myeong and Gwak Yong against Kobayakawa Takakage
* Okcheon : Jo Heon
* Geumsan : Yeong-gyu and Jo Heon
* Cheongju : Yeong-gyu and Jo Heon

In Gangwon province

In Hwanghae province

* Yeonan : Yi Jeong-am

In Pyeongan province

* Mountain Myohyang : Seosan

In Hamgyeong province

* Gilju : Jeong Mun-bu

19th and 20th century righteous armies

Late Joseon dynasty period Korean nationalism outgrew the unplanned, spontaneous, and disorganized Donghak movement, and became more violent as the Japanese occupation began a brutal regime throughout the Korean peninsula and pursued repressive policies against the Korean people.

The Japanese occupiers fought with state of the art cannons, machine guns, repeaters, mounted cavalry reconnaissance units in the mountains, and an entrenched class of informers and criminals developed over the previous decade before the battles began.

Koreans fought with antique muzzle-loaders, staves and iron bars, and their hands. There were rare instances of modern weapons, and a few enemy weapons captured. Europe, particularly England and Germany, and the western allies were on the side of Japan, profiting from huge arms and naval sales, and did much to prevent Korean forces from being resupplied.

For at least 13 years after 1905, small irregular forces, often led by regular army commanders, fought skirmishes and battles throughout Korea against Japanese police, armies, and underworld mercenaries who functioned to support Japanese corporations looting Korea, and as well armed Japanese settlers who seized Korean farms and land. In one period, according to Japanese records in "Boto Tobatsu-shi" (Annals of the Subjugation of the Insurgent), between October 1907 and April 1908, over 1,908 attacks were made by the Korean people against the invaders.

While most attacks were done using available weapons, and bare hands, international arms dealers profited. Arms dealers and governments who supplied the Korean resistance included English arms dealers, Chinese arms dealers from across the Yalu and in coastal waters; German arms dealers provided Mausers, and a French cruiser in September 1908, resupplied Korean Catholic armies in payment for gold at exorbitant prices. Smugglers from Japan as well supplied Murada weapons, with links to anti-Meiji forces who hoped to see Ito and his clan toppled in the wake of disasters in the Japanese economy.

After the Russian revolution, some weaponry was diverted from the White forces into what is now North Korea, and supporters built there, however this was sparse and while white Russian mercenaries fought against the Japanese, this was a minor element. And is in the article succeeding this.

Armies and orders of battle

Of the sixty righteous armies, the list and descriptions below follow what is known of the names of the more well known armies and their sequential appearance in combat; individual generals and named figures are given larger biographies on separate articles which cite more historical background.

In 1895

*Yi So-ung
*No Eung-gyu
*Gi U-man
*Yi Gang-nyeon

In 1905

*Choe Ik-hyeon
*Min Jong-sik
*Sin Dol-seok
*Jeong Yong-gi
*Yi Han-gu
*Im Byeong-chan

In 1907

*Hong Beom-do
*Cha Doseon
*Kim Su-min
*Min Geung-ho

13 province alliance righteous army in 1908

*Commander in chief Yi In-yeong
*Commander Heo Wi
*Representative of Gangwon : Min Geung-ho
*Representative of Chungcheong : Yi Gang-nyeon
*Representative of Gyeongsang : Park Jeong-bin
*Representative of Gyeonggi, Hwanghae : Gwon Jung-hui
*Representative of Pyeongan : Bang In-gwan
*Representative of North Hamgyeong : Jeong Bong-jun
*Representative of Jeolla : Mun Tae-su

New research on the righteous armies

As both Confucianism and modernism have been given some distance by a century from their influence on Korean culture, there has been much interest on righteous armies as both continuing traditions and as well modernizing Korea on its own terms, thus lessening the traditional argument that Japan modernized Korea through invasion.

References

William E. Henthorn, "A History of Korea", Free Press: 1971

ee also

*List of Korea-related topics
*History of Korea
*Korean independence movement
*Korean Liberation Army

External links

* [http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/korea/korea_history_con82.htm A KBS outline of the Righteous army; an excellent introduction, with photos and also further links, several cited by this article]

* Professor Song Su-Pak has done a sociological analysis of the background for the Righteous army leaders.